Say goodbye to the “double DNA murder weapon” and rusted bra clasp used to nail U.S. honor student Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito to a brutal murder they say they didn’t commit.

In a sensational development that could free the former lovers, court-ordered independent experts have called both items “inconclusive” in a 145-page report (see summary below) that the Italian press called “scathing.” Not only were the police lab DNA tests found unreliable, but the experts found no blood on the alleged murder weapon or any trace of the victim.

“Now Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito can really hope, even without illusions, for a favorable outcome in their appeals,” says Elio Clergy Bertoldi of Corriere dell’Umbria, the leading newspaper in Perugia, Italy, where Amanda and Meredith once led a carefree student life in a charming cottage overlooking the storybook Umbrian hills.

“The scientific experts appointed by the court deny any scientific validity to the tests of geneticist Patricia Stefanoni,” adds Bertoldi, referring to the scientist who tested the DNA samples in the uncertified Rome lab. “They do not trust the examinations of the knife and hook bra, made by the police.”

Bertoldi describes the “rejected” DNA traces as “the basis of the murder conviction” and the experts’ report as “a rejection on every front … an important landmark, if not decisive, for the defense.” He compared the report to a “torpedo in court” and said the defense “will have uncorked, metaphorically not one but 10 bottles of champagne.”

The news has electrified both defendants. ‘I saw a light in Amanda’s eyes for the first time in nearly four years. She was singing and dancing and so happy,” prison chaplain Father Saulo Scarabattoli told the Mail Online.

Thanks to the report by Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti from Rome’s Sapienza University, nothing ties Amanda and Raffaele to the blood-stained bedroom where Meredith Kercher, Knox’s British roommate, was stabbed to death on Nov. 1, 2007.

The ongoing appeals trial for Amanda and Raffaele has featured more twists and turns than a bucking bronco (see Oggi chart below for evidence update). Rudy Guede, accused of helping the college students murder Kercher in an infamous “sex game gone wrong” has already been convicted of murder and sexual assault–and exhausted all appeals. Amanda and Raffaele’s trial won’t reach a verdict until fall.

Amanda Knox at trial of century. Photo: Perugia Shock

The prosecution, through its media echo chamber, is already scoffing at the report, claiming the two young people may get off because of a glitch or technicality. We are even hearing that “a lack of an alibi” is a sure sign of guilt.

Not only is this a guilty until proven innocent argument, but the report documents everything from mishandling of evidence to testing methods that flaunt “international standards.”

In other words: The DNA traces were always bogus. If independent review had been allowed, we would have known that nearly four years ago. Police forensic scientist Patrizia Stefanoni is the “C.T” in this damning statement by the experts:

The hypothesis formulated by the C.T. on the nature of the material under analysis (ndr., by Stefanoni) in the GUP hearings and in the Assize Court) is absolutely arbitrary, in that it is absolutely not supported by any scientifically objective confirmation/document.

Amanda and Raffaele are not benefiting from the CSI effect, as the New York Times and Scientific American (of all places) carelessly speculated this week but from the fact that they were never in the room where the murder occurred (except in the prosecution’s mind) and thus left no sign.

The experts will come to court on July 25 to face questioning by the prosecution, already contending the experts are callow newbies compared to the police forensic scientists–an argument that Judge Pratillo Hellman will no doubt find insulting, since he appointed them.

Meanwhile, shameless misrepresentations of Amanda Knox’s personality, based on early tabloid reports, amateur psychoanalysis and name-calling, have already surfaced in the English-speaking press. Time magazine posted one of the most disgusting Amanda Knox stories ever (and that’s saying a lot), asking readers if she could have an “Autism Spectrum Disorder”–something her schoolteacher mother, Edda Mellas, and every other instructor would long ago have noticed and addressed.

Note to prosecution: Seattleites don’t appreciate your mischaracterization of individualistic behavior as kinky and wrong, because being your own person is considered important in our beautiful city.

“In interviews about the case, (prosecutor) Giuliano Mignini often returns to Knox’s behavior immediately after the murder,” points out Everett Rupe in Seattlest. “He waxes about how she didn’t seem sad enough, sentiments echoed by many of the armchair vigilantes in the tabloid press who played a supporting role in Knox’s downfall. One can’t help but wonder if only Knox had known that she was expected to wail and rend her garments like her last son died in the Crusades, maybe she’d just be another face in the crowd whose life was briefly touched by tragedy. Unfortunately, she didn’t behave the way Giuliano Mignini expects of a young woman in distress, and she’s paid dearly for it.”

“Every time we are doing well in the trial they try something desperate, like caged animals,” Madison Paxton (Amanda’s best friend) told The Guardian in the week’s best line.

The report is sweet vindication for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito supporters and for my book Murder in Italy, which predicts the case will turn on DNA evidence and that this sad, sorry sideshow will end in face-saving apologies and farce.

As I wrote in the beginning, I believe the Italians will do the right thing. I believe the world’s most sensational murder trial will end, as blogger Frank Sfarzo says in Murder in Italy, with a celebration of justice over mere speculation.

“Tarallucci e vino (cookies and wine), that’s the expression we use when there is an insolvable problem, when an irremediable conflict suddenly ends with up with good laugh, and everybody goes home as if nothing happened.”

For the defense, this appeal has been far more powerful than anybody could have predicted. The DNA report has energized both defendants.

The star witness, the drug-addled heroin dealer Antonio Curatolo, flamed out in court. Star accuser Rudy Guede couldn’t read his own accusations. The independent experts turned thumbs down on the DNA evidence. The alleged murder weapon, too large to have inflicted most of the wounds, revealed neither blood nor the victim’s DNA. The bra clasp that supposedly pinned Raffaele to the murder room was collected 46 days after the murder, under a dirty carpet, and had only a low copy DNA profile from him–most likely, say the experts, from mishandling and/or contamination.

Judge Hellman has the power to send both students home to their parents after all these years.

Let it be soon. Let it be now.

__________

Victim Meredith Kercher enjoying an Italian Halloween. She died the next night.

1. Rudy Guede
His Y chromosone found on a vaginal swab inserted (Note: by investigators) into the body of the victim.
His DNA on the left sleeve of the blue Adidas jacket worn by the victim.
His DNA on a brown, fake leather purse, discovered on Meredith’s bed, from which her cell phones were stolen.
His DNA on the straps of Meredith’s bra.
The imprint of his bloody hand on a pillowcase found under the victim.
The bloody print made by his Nike Outbreak 2 shoes on the floor of the room.

Here is an English translation of the conclusions reached by the independent court appointed experts Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti.

CONCLUSIONS

Caption: The alleged murder weapon. To nobody's surprise, it contains Amanda Knox's DNA on the handle, since she used for cooking. Too large to have inflicted most of the wounds, it doesn't match a bloody print found at the scene. Experts found no DNA of the victim nor any blood. It is, and has always been, just an ordinary cooking in knife.

Based on the considerations explained above, we are able to respond as follows to the inquiries posed at the assignment hearing:

“Having examined the record and conducted such technical investigations as shall be necessary, the Expert Panel shall ascertain:

1. whether it is possible, by means of a new technical analysis, to identify the DNA present on items 165b (bra clasp) and 36 (knife), and to determine the reliability of any such identification”

– The tests that we conducted to determine the presence of blood on item 36 (knife) and item 165B (bra clasps) yielded a negative result.

– The cytomorphological tests on the items did not reveal the presence of cellular material. Some samples of item 36 (knife), in particular sample “H”, present granules with a circular/hexagonal characteristic morphology with a cental radial structure. A more detailed microscopic study, together with the consultation of data in the literature, allowed us to ascertain that the structures in question are attributable to granules of starch, thus matter of a vegetable nature.

– The quantification of the extracts obtained from the samples obtained from item 36 (knife) and item 165B (bra clasps), conducted via Real Time PCR, did not reveal the presence of DNA.

– In view of the absence of DNA in the extracts that we obtained, with the agreement of the consultants for the parties, we did not proceed to the subsequent amplification step.

2. “if it is not possible to carry out a new technical analysis, shall evaluate, on the basis of the record, the degree of reliability of the genetic analysis performed by the Scientific Police on the aforementioned items, including with respect to possible contamination.”

Having examined the record and the relevant documents, we are able to report the following conclusions regarding the laboratory analyses performed on Item 36 (knife) and Item 165B (bra clasps):

The alleged murder weapon came to court wrapped up like a red rose, with its own bodyguard. The independent experts who finally got to examine it discovered no blood or DNA traces of victim Meredith Kercher.

ITEM 36 (KNIFE)

Relative to the genetic analysis performed on trace A (handle of the knife), we agree with the conclusion reached by the Technical Consultant regarding the attribution of the genetic profile obtained from these samples to Amanda Marie Knox.

Relative to trace B (blade of the knife) we find that the technical analyses performed are not reliable for the following reasons:

1. There does not exist evidence which scientifically confirms that trace B (blade of knife) is the product of blood.

2. The electrophoretic profiles exhibited reveal that the sample indicated by the letter B (blade of knife) was a Low Copy Number (LCN) sample, and, as such, all of the precautions indicated by the international scientific community should have been applied.

3. Taking into account that none of the recommendations of the international scientific community relative to the treatment of Low Copy Number (LCN) samples were followed, we do not accept the conclusions regarding the certain attribution of the profile found on trace B (blade of knife) to the victim Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, since the genetic profile, as obtained, appears unreliable insofar as it is not supported by scientifically validated analysis;

4. International protocols of inspection, collection, and sampling were not followed;

5. It cannot be ruled out that the result obtained from sample B (blade of knife) derives from contamination in some phase of the collection and/or handling and/or analyses performed.

ITEM 165B (BRA CLASP)

Relative to Item 165B (bra clasp), we find that the technical analysis is not reliable for the following reasons:

With a dirty glove, an Italian forensic investigator displays the bra clasp, found 46 days after the crime in a messed-up crime scene.

1. There does not exist evidence which scientifically confirms the presence of supposed flaking cells on the item;

2. There was an erroneous interpretation of the electrophoretic profile of the autosomic STRs;

3. There was an erroneous interpretation of the electrophoretic profile relative to the Y chromosome;

4. The international protocols for inspection, collection, and sampling of the item were not followed;

5. It cannot be ruled out that the results obtained derive from environmental contamination and/or contamination in some phase of the collection and/or handling of the item.

MURDER IN ITALY, my book on the spell-binding Amanda Knox case, is a Library Journal Bestseller. Winner of Best True Crime 2010 Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice awards. Called “a real-life murder mystery as terrifying and compelling as fiction,” it’s built on diary excerpts, wiretaps, court scenes, trial transcripts, first-hand experience and interviews with key players for all sides.

MURDER IN ITALY is online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound and bookstores. It’s also a Kindle & ebook. I’ll blog about the Knox case until the final appeal.